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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30094554">Upside Down, Backwards, &amp; Inside Out</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/friedgalaxies/pseuds/friedgalaxies'>friedgalaxies</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Comedy of Errors, Crushes, Datekou Week 2021, Datekougyou | Date Tech, Disabled Character, Getting Together, Karasuno, M/M, Training Camp, unlikely friendship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:07:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,114</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30094554</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/friedgalaxies/pseuds/friedgalaxies</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tanaka Ryuunosuke is good at making unlikely friends. Too bad he’s still not that great at communicating with them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aone Takanobu &amp; Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Aone Takanobu/Futakuchi Kenji, Ennoshita Chikara/Tanaka Ryuunosuke</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Datekou Week 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Upside Down, Backwards, &amp; Inside Out</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>for datekou week 2021’s day 2: <b> second years</b> | social media | historical</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tanaka Ryuunosuke is good at making friends in unexpected places.</p>
<p>In fact, he’s a pretty friendly guy! Especially if one looks past the bristly exterior, and the general delinquent air, and the whole thing about trying to start fights with guys on other teams, and almost physically attacking that one clown from Johzenji (and he would’ve, too, if their far too accommodating manager hadn’t stepped in and prevented an act of premeditated manslaughter in front of the Sendai city gym--)</p>
<p>The point is, Ryuu is friendly, and he knows a thing or two about being stereotyped from first impression.</p>
<p>Which, really, when one puts all the facts together like that, it’s pretty easy to see how he and Aone Takanobu, Datekou’s #1 and incredibly imposing middle blocker, become fast friends. It started with the match against Datekou after Karasuno’s incredible first years joined them, a kind of begrudging respect and mutual admiration between two second years fit to be ace once their respective third years graduated or retired from the team. A nod here, a side glance there, and though he didn’t get the after match handshake that Hinata got (and really, what the fuck, Hinata?) it was easy to see that the two of them could’ve become friends.</p>
<p>And then came the practice match against Datekou, once their third years had retired and Aone had ascended to take the #1 jersey which Ryuu was only a little bit jealous about. He and Hinata had kept up some easy friendship borne of mutual respect since between the official match and now the practice match Karasuno was hosting, and now that they weren’t under the crushing pressure of trying to claw their way up to nationals from either side there was actually time to talk with each other-- though, Aone wasn’t much of a talker in the first place.</p>
<p>But that was okay, because Ryuu talked enough for the both of them, and Aone was an incredibly good listener.</p>
<p>Which lead Ryuu to his current predicament, really.</p>
<p>(Is there such a thing as being too good at listening?</p>
<p>Maybe, depending on who you ask.)</p>
<p>But either way, Aone was a really good listener, and it was just the two of them walking home from a little Saturday afternoon outing with some of the other second years from each respective team. Just the two of them, because the sun was beginning to set and funnily enough, their houses were in the same general direction. Datekou wasn’t that far from Karasuno, after all.</p>
<p>Aone was a quiet guy but it was easy enough to get to know things about him. For example; he had four older siblings (Ryuu never would’ve pegged him as coming from a large family but upon further examination him being the babiest sibling did make a lot of sense); he had albinism (and this entire time Ryuu thought he just needed to spend more time in the sun); he was autistic and had special interests in volleyball (duh), plants (surprising but cute), turtles and tortoises (he had a Russian tortoise named Moyashi), and engineering (again, duh. Datekou was a technical school after all.)</p>
<p>And, he was gay and had a super huge crush on another boy. Since Aone tended to be so bashful when it came to emotions-- Ryuu couldn’t say he wasn’t the same, he’d just recently come to terms with being bisexual himself and that was a whole other whirlwind of emotions-- the most Ryuu had gotten out of him so far was that his crush was also in high school, played volleyball, and was someone they both knew.</p>
<p>So, Ryuu had taken to blabbering about his own crush instead, hoping it would make Aone feel more at ease about opening up. He really liked the guy, after all, he was not only a formidable teammate and great practice partner but overall a really good, dependable friend. And if there was one thing Ryuu was great at, it was running his mouth.</p>
<p>“He’s got this pretty brown hair and brown eyes, man, some people say he looks kinda plain but I could look at him all day and not get bored!” Ryuu mused, hands shoved deep in his pockets against the winter chill. Aone hummed and nodded, much more enthusiastically than he normally did.</p>
<p>Communicating with Aone was generally a process of trial and error, Ryuu thought, and though he was definitely nowhere near as good at it as any of the members of the Datekou team (or Hinata, friendly bastard), he could at the very least carry on a conversation via guess and check.</p>
<p>“Your crush has brown hair and eyes too?” Ryuu asked. Aone nodded, cheeks pinkening beyond the slight flush to his pale cheeks and nose where they peeked out above his scarf. Brown hair and eyes were pretty common in Japan, so that was no surprise, really. A good few guys on the Datekou team had brown hair, though Ryuu had been paying more attention to their volleyball than their faces and couldn’t name any of them off the top of his head. He was much better at remembering opposing team members by their skill sets and jersey numbers, really.</p>
<p>“Man, that’s a weird coincidence.” Ryuu huffed, his breath forming a soft cloud in the air that quickly dissipated. Aone inclined his head in Ryuu’s direction, looking at him plaintively. Or, about as plaintive as the guy ever got. “You want me to talk about him more?”</p>
<p>Another soft nod. Ryuu exhaled, feeling a grin start to split his face, growing warmer with each word he spoke about his crush. Wow, this liking guys thing was actually kinda fun.</p>
<p>“Well…. He’s a really hard worker but almost no one ever sees it, he’s always keeping other people in line. And he’s really funny, in a kinda snarky way? Super charismatic and just generally, like, really good with people. He’s seriously keeping the team together, though no one ever praises him for it. Really good at keeping the first years in line, too. Definitely a great fit for captain.” Ryuu realized he was gushing at the same time he realized Aone had been nodding fervently along the entire time, like he was agreeing with everything Ryuu was saying. But that could only mean….</p>
<p>“Your crush has all those qualities too?” A nod, once, firm, with a determined set to his mouth, though his eyes were soft. “That’s crazy, dude. Imagine if they were the same person!”</p>
<p>The realization hit Ryuu like a truck the moment the thought left his mouth. He stopped dead in his tracks, glad that there wasn’t much traffic at this hour because he wasn’t sure he would be able to move even if a speeding car were coming right for him.</p>
<p>The thought that they could be crushing on the same guy hadn’t occurred to him until just now. Sure, he’d shared plenty of crushes on girls with other guys, namely Noya, but there were so many cute girls he was sure he’d move on in a few weeks. It was only part of the bro code to let your bro have the girl you both had your eye on (even if it usually resulted in he and Noya kowtowing to the other to the point neither of them so much as asked the object of their mutual affections out, but Ryuu digressed.)</p>
<p>But this guy was… special. Ryuu hadn’t had many, if any, crushes on guys up until this point. It had always been something he disregarded, brushed aside, because everyone thought their guy teammates were cute, right? Every guy got excited when their guy teammates touched them, ruffling their hair or slapping them on the back, to the point it felt like a little zing of electricity under the skin at the point of contact. Every guy thought about the compliments they got from their male upperclassmen for days and days, to the point of spacing out during class thinking about it and subsequently getting yelled at by their teacher.</p>
<p>(Every guy burned hot with shame thinking about being touched by another man in more than passing, in a way that could even potentially be misconstrued as romantic. Every guy felt predatory whenever they were alone with a male teammate or classmate in a locker room, just the two of them, feeling like if they so much as looked at the other boy in the room some secret alarm would go off and they’d be dragged off to jail forever. Every guy got reprimanded by their father for being a pansy, a nancy-boy, for being soft and spending too much time with their male friends.</p>
<p>Every guy covered it all up like a dirty secret, like frantically covering a dead body in just a few feet of dirt in vain hopes no one would smell it once it started rotting, even if it hurt to keep it locked down. Every guy amped up their bravado and bluster to the point even they found themself ridiculous, just in the hopes that no one would find out, right?</p>
<p>Right?)</p>
<p>But apparently that wasn’t normal, as Ryuu had found out not too long ago at one of the infamous second year team members’ sleepovers. Laying in the dark on his back, hands folded over his chest like a corpse prepared for burial, staring up at the distant ceiling of Chikara’s living room, because Chikara’s home was the most empty most often. His parents were never around to complain.</p>
<p>Talking in hushed tones, feeling shame burn his face hot, hot red, Chikara sitting up on his elbows on the futon next to Ryuu’s. Backs of his eyes prickling hot and warm tears running down his face even though Ryuu did not cry, Ryuu was not a crier, especially not when it came to soft things like emotions, things he was never supposed to talk about with other boys. Noya and Kazuhito and Hisashi all waking up, slowly, with the weight of Ryuu’s revelation weighing heavy on the five of them. It was supposed to be a moment of celebration, realizing you were bisexual, but all Ryuu could feel was shame.</p>
<p>The others had hugged him anyway, his best friends in the entire world.</p>
<p>Ryuu’s train of thought slammed into the back of his head like a speeding bullet, knocking him forward, almost stumbling off his feet. Train A surpassing the station entirely and jumping the tracks to ram headfirst into Train B, the kind of tragic crash they never tell you about in the math problem. He had to jog to catch up to Aone, who had seemingly left him to contemplate his thoughts on his own or plain hadn’t noticed that Ryuu had stopped.</p>
<p>It was only as Ryuu caught up to his friend’s retreating form that he realized the two of them were almost on the doorstep of the Aone house, Ryuu having surpassed his turn entirely. Aone turned to him with a quizzical expression. Ryuu stammered, face hot. It was starting to snow.</p>
<p>“Takanobu!” called a voice from the front stoop of the Aone household, both boys turning to see a small woman, maybe just over five-foot, standing in the doorway and waving at them. Aone perked up, small smile gracing his stoic features, the woman warmly backlit by the light from inside the house and beaming at them with a grin of her own. Aone’s sister, he had a few of them, or maybe his mom? Either way they looked eerily similar, pale skinned and pale haired and light eyed, though no one was quite as pale as Aone with his genetic lack of pigment entirely.</p>
<p>“Takanobu, did you bring a friend home? That’s delightful!” the woman said, stomping into a pair of outside shoes and coming to greet them at the end of the driveway. She barely came up to Aone’s shoulder.</p>
<p>“Uh.” Ryuu said.</p>
<p>“Oh, it’s starting to snow! Come, come, I just finished dinner. There’s more than enough.” she grabbed Ryuu’s hand, Aone trailing behind the two of them as Ryuu was all but dragged by the (surprisingly strong?) woman into the house. Ryuu couldn’t see his expression that well, for the darkness descending on them and the scarf covering the lower half of his face, but from the intermittent little huffs coming from Aone’s direction Ryuu could swear he was being laughed at.</p>
<p>“Um.” Ryuu said, stopping just inside the genkan. Aone gently shouldered him out of the way and toed off his own sneakers, the pair joining an impressive collection on the crowded shoe rack. He shuffled into a pair of slippers and went to rummage in a hall closet, as Ryuu continued to get his ear talked off.</p>
<p>“You know, he brings teammates home all the time but I never get to see any of his friends from other schools! Are you friends with Kenji-kun? He’s always talking about boys from other teams, though I think he just likes to gossip. What school do you go to? What year? You must play volleyball too, don’t you? All Takanobu’s friends do.” she continued, exchanging the outside shoes for a pair of dainty little house slippers. She turned over her shoulder, looking up (and up and up) at Aone. “Takanobu, dear, would you fetch a pair-- oh, thank you!”</p>
<p>Aone grunted, dropping a pair of guest slippers at Ryuu’s feet. He nearly tripped over himself again in his rush to change into them, shedding his coat and hat to hang up alongside the multitude of other coats and various winter gear at the peg rack just inside the door.</p>
<p>Aone turned, having shed his own outer layers, and turned to hug the woman that Ryuu was sure could only be his mom, or perhaps a much older sister, leaning down far more than Ryuu thought comfortable. The woman hugged him with a laugh, pinching his cheek in a way that made Aone’s features squish towards the center of his face, clearly embarrassed. “Takanobu, who’s your friend? He seems like such a nice boy.”</p>
<p>“T-Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Karasuno second year, uh, Aone-san!” Ryuu stammered, finally having gathered enough of his facilities to respond. Aone-san laughed, reaching up to pat the top of Ryuu’s head.</p>
<p>She had to stand on her tiptoes to do so. Despite it, Ryuu felt cowed by this powerful, tiny woman.</p>
<p>“Good to meet you, Ryuunosuke-kun! Just call me Aone-okaasan, all Takanobu’s friends do,” she said, turning and walking into the kitchen, voice echoing over her shoulder. Something warm rushed through Ryuu from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. He hadn’t seen his own mom in a long, long time.</p>
<p>“Y-yes, Aone-okaasan!” Ryuu shouted, far too loud for the compact house.</p>
<p>Aone-okaasan’s laughter rang like the chime of a bell through the entire house.</p>
<p>“Takanobu!” came another voice from the direction of the kitchen, and Ryuu was hit with the distant realization that someone had mentioned to him the majority of Aone’s siblings being home since Aone’s oldest sister had just had a baby, with the way one is aware of their impending doom. “Who’d you bring home this time?”</p>
<p>There was the hammer of feet rushing down stairs and two more tall, broad, pale skinned and headed Aone family members peered over the stair railing into the entryway. Really, the members of the family that Ryuu had seen so far looked like Aone, his friend, in various forms. Like if someone had made him in a video game character creator and slightly altered each save file to make a bunch of different Aones.</p>
<p>And Ryuu thought his house was chaotic, and the only sibling he had was Saeko.</p>
<p>Aone shuffled closer to him, prodding Ryuu in the direction of the kitchen, where the family seemed to be gathering. Aone’s mom and one of his sisters (the eldest one, if the little slumbering baby in her arms was anything to go by) were sitting in the kitchen chatting and laughing with one another. Warmth flooded Ryuu again.</p>
<p>He texted Saeko that he’d be home late.</p>
<p>The Aone family was big. Even beyond the fact that there’s many of them— five children, though Aone’s older brother isn’t due in till the end of the week— they’re all also tall and broad, aside from their mother. But even Aone Hakucho, at a obstinante five-foot-two, was built powerfully with a tradeworker’s muscularity all up and down her arms and shoulders.</p>
<p>The siblings had all just asked that he use their first names in addressing them considering there’s so many of them. The Aones don’t seem to be incredibly formal folk, despite the fact that Ryuu knows Aone defaults to the habit of a formal bow in most social situations. When he’d glanced at Aone out of the corner of his eye to get confirmation on whether or not he was allowed to do this by whatever set of unspoken social rules they were still pretending to follow, all he’d gotten was a singular, slightly weary nod in response.</p>
<p>Ryuu guessed this was a common circumstance. He wondered if their mutual crush had been exposed to it yet.</p>
<p>But no, he wasn’t going to think about that now, not when Aone-okaasan has just set down a steaming plate of rice, steamed vegetables, and orange bourbon chicken in front of him like he’s a child who doesn’t know how to serve himself. It’s kind of nice, actually.</p>
<p>The table is clamoring for a second as everyone gets their plates and serves each other and asks for the salt to be passed and shoves for the best piece of meat and finally, finally, it’s calm as everyone begins to stuff their face with Aone-okaasan’s cooking. Ryuu hesitantly brings a piece of chicken to his mouth. Whatever it is, it can’t be worse than Saeko’s attempts at cooking.</p>
<p>It’s <em>delicious</em>.</p>
<p>“What position do you play, Tanaka-kun?” Aone’s oldest sister, Fuyuko, asked. Her baby, Hiro, slumbered against her chest in a sling, pudgy little cheek squished up against his mother’s collarbone and tiny mouth slightly open. Fuyuko peered at Ryuu expectantly, big blue eyes wide and charming. Ryuu swallowed his food too quickly in his rush to answer and his voice comes out thick in response.</p>
<p>“Wing spiker, #5, Aone-Fuyu-san.” Aone pushed Ryuu’s glass of water closer to him from across the table. Ryuu took a long, thankful gulp.</p>
<p>Fuyuko, seemingly content with his answer, continued eating with a ferocity Ryuu can only assume comes from being a big person in a big family. The spread on the table alone is huge, and there’s even more food sitting in wait on the counters. Aone-okaasan’s grocery bill must be through the roof.</p>
<p>Maybe she coupons like the moms on that American show Ennoshita liked to watch sometimes.</p>
<p>(“It’s good advice! I only have so much money to feed two growing teenagers with a week, you know. Chikyuu’s gonna eat me out of house and home.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think that metaphor works considering he lives here too.”</p>
<p>“Shut up and pass me the remote.”)</p>
<p>“That’s a good position! And such a high number too, you must be great.” The second to youngest sibling and Aone’s third oldest sister, Kentarou, piped up. She smacked Aone’s hand with her chopsticks as he reached for another dumpling off the platter between them. Aone stole a dumpling from her plate instead.</p>
<p>“Good enough to beat Datekou, at least. I didn’t realize Karasuno was such a strong team.” Aone’s second oldest sister and the middle child, Akari, added on. She hummed thoughtfully, clicking her chopsticks together in thought. “Though, it seemed like they’d just lost to Datekou, so who am I to judge.”</p>
<p>“Don’t start fights at the table.” Fuyuko reprimanded with a chirp. Akari rolled her eyes. Aone continued to eat peacefully. Ryuu understood, now, how he’s so unaffected by anything and everything that happens around him. He wished living with Saeko his entire life had given him even half that tolerance.</p>
<p>“How are your grades, Ryuunosuke-kun?” Aone-okaasan asked, seemingly content to let her children battle verbally in front of her without intervention. Ryuu withered.</p>
<p>“Uh, not great, Aone-okaasan.” He admitted. Aone-okaasan frowned, just a slight downturn to her mouth and a crease between her barely-there brows. Ryuu felt an innate and undeniable need to please this woman he’d just met. “But they’re getting better! I get tutoring from one of my teammates.”</p>
<p>Aone-okaasan perked up. “Oh, how sweet of him! What’s his name?”</p>
<p>(With all her questions Ryuu was half convinced she’d ask for his social security number next. Ryuu didn’t know if he even had it in him to deny her that.)</p>
<p>“Ennoshita. Chikara. Ennoshita Chikara.” Ryuu fumbled. Aone perked up, and though Ryuu knew, logically, it was just at hearing a familiar name, he couldn’t quite squash the fear it was because their crush was on the same boy. Suddenly, Aone-okaasan’s dinner didn’t look so appealing.</p>
<p>Ryuu shoved more chicken in his mouth anyway.</p>
<p>Dinner passed in a rush, and then there appeared to be a break in the snow so Ryuu excused himself to try and get home before it really started coming down. Aone walked him to the door, a little container of leftovers in hand.</p>
<p>“Oh, uh, you don’t have to!” Ryuu said, winding his scarf around his neck. Aone offered it to him again, a little more forcefully this time.</p>
<p>“For your sister.” Aone rumbled. Ryuu fumbled, having only heard Aone’s deep voice a few times at most, but if the guy was going to go to the trouble of speaking aloud he definitely wasn’t going to refuse him now. Besides, even if Saeko was annoying as hell she deserved some of Aone-okaasan’s wonderful, slightly weird cooking.</p>
<p>Ryuu had never had Japanese-Russian fusion before tonight, but he wasn’t exactly complaining.</p>
<p>Ryuu took the offer container and said his leave, just barely remembering to tack on the JSL sign for “thank you” as he ducked out the door. The upward lilt to the corners of Aone’s mouth made it seem as though he was beaming.</p>
<p>“You stayed out later than I thought.” Saeko said, arms folded over the back of the couch as Ryuu removed all his outer layers at the door. “Start any fires?”</p>
<p>“No,” Ryuu grunted, throwing his hat at her. She caught it easily, much to his chagrin, and threw it back with twice as much force. “Had dinner at a friend’s place. Here, they sent me back with leftovers.”</p>
<p>“What the hell is this?” Saeko’s nose wrinkled in confusion as she peeled open the lid of the container. Ryuu shrugged.</p>
<p>“Dunno, but it’s good. Try it!”</p>
<p>Saeko dubiously stuck the tip of her pinky finger into the still-barely-warm sauce. Her eyes opened comically wide at the taste. “Whatever the hell it is it’s good! Hey, you should go over to their place for dinner more often— and invite me next time, jerk!”</p>
<p>“I don’t think they’d want you.”</p>
<p>She threw the lid at him.</p>
<p>
  <strong>_____</strong>
</p>
<p>Takanobu was excited for training camp.</p>
<p>It was the first one they’d be attending with the Fukurodani Academy group, thanks to Karasuno’s benevolence in putting in a good word for them. Six teams, all at the Nekoma campus in Tokyo. A whole week of nothing but practicing with some of the best teams in Japan over winter break, and he’d get to spend more time with the unlikely friends he’d made at Karasuno.</p>
<p>Hinata was one, of course, but the Karasuno second years had quickly become good friends with Datekou’s own second years. Takanobu wasn’t exactly one to jump exhuberantly into the conversation (even though he made contributions in other ways) but just sitting back and watching everyone interact was amusing enough in and of itself. Kenji and Ennoshita, captain and future-captain respectively, were particularly funny to watch considering they butt heads the most out of the entire group in their own snarky way, unexpected as it was. Takanobu supposed it was something about opposites attract and likes repel.</p>
<p>It was also particularly funny to watch Tanaka and Nishinoya’s antics rope even even-tempered Obara and perpetually sleepy Onagawa into the excitement.</p>
<p>As much as Takanobu and Hinata got along, Tanaka was likely the person on Karasuno’s team Takanobu had the second most chemistry with. Tanaka was exuberant, and empathetic, and entertaining, and other positive words that started with “E”. He was a good conversation partner despite his tendency for loud outbursts (and Takanobu knew them to be loud, because he didn’t even have to be looking in Tanaka’s direction to hear them,) the kind of person that was easy for Takanobu to carry on a conversation with because he filled in the gaps of Takanobu’s silence without forgetting he was there entirely.</p>
<p>He liked spending time with him, especially after the impromptu dinner he spent at the Aone household. It always spoke well of Takanobu’s friends if they got along well with his many siblings and didn’t push back against his Okaasan’s near overwhelming affection. Many a’ friend had gone under the tidal wave of Aone Hakucho’s almost overzealously welcoming nature with nothing but a fearful expression and a commiserating glance from Takanobu.</p>
<p>“What’re you smiling about?” Kenji asked from his seat beside Takanobu on the bus hauling the Datekou team to the training camp. He was standing with an arm braced over the back of the seats in front of them, doubtlessly annoying Mai, and also doubtlessly going to fall into the aisle when the bus came to a stop. Takanobu hummed, content to watch.</p>
<p>Mai reached up and slapped Kenji fast enough Takanobu was seriously considering recommending her for the baseball team. Kenji yelped, fumbling backwards. Takanobu laughed.</p>
<p>After being bombarded by his ever overwhelming cousin Lev and almost the entirety of the Nekoma team, Takanobu finally, finally made it into the building proper. Even though Lev was far out of his range of hearing already Takanobu could still hear the faint ring of Lev’s cheerful amalgamation of Japanese and Russian (“Russianese,” as Kenji called it) he usually spoke with his cousins.</p>
<p>(Unfortunately, Lev was not nearly as skilled at JSL as his older sister or any of Takanobu’s siblings, so even though Takanobu spoke both languages fluently he frequently had to ask Lev to repeat himself. It was really all for the better Lev liked to talk.)</p>
<p>But maybe that was just a predilection of what he was going to face the rest of the week, like a premonition from a ghost.</p>
<p>“Wanna go find Karasuno?” Kenji asked after they’d claimed a spot for their futons— against the back wall and nearest a window, as always— and dumped their belongings. Takanobu shrugged.</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s probably better we wait for everyone else to tire themselves out. We’ll see them at dinner anyways.” Kenji flopped onto his futon with a huff, arms folded nonchalantly behind his head. Takanobu relaxed. Kenji always had a knack for telling when he was overwhelmed, especially in new situations. He’d been reading him like a book since they were ten years old.</p>
<p>The rest of their team eventually filtered in around them, having been caught up in various conversations with members of other teams. Onagawa had even greeted them with a, “Your cousin is fucking insane, Aone.” which Takanobu could only agree with.</p>
<p>At least Koganegawa seemed to be having a good time. Last he heard from Sakunami and some of the other first years, Koganegawa was trying to get Lev to teach him Russian. But knowing Lev, he was just getting his languages fumbled the entire time and confusing the both of them more in the process.</p>
<p>(“<em>ZATKNIS!</em>”</p>
<p>“That means ‘shut the hell up’, Kogane, you dunce.”</p>
<p>“How do you know that? Do you speak Russian too Futakuchi?”</p>
<p>“You spend almost your entire life around the Aones, you pick up a few things.”)</p>
<p>Nekomata welcomed the teams to the training camp that evening before releasing the hounds to dinner, and Takanobu can’t help but feel more than a little intimidated by the short old man. Futakuchi sometimes exchanged texts with Nekoma’s captain in their secret captain group chat that has him giggling at and attempting to strangle his phone in equal measure, so Takanobu knows for certain that Nekomata isn’t nearly as benign as he seems. He mentioned this to Lev as he passed him in the lunch line, between politely thanking the managers for serving them (really, it was a wonder they managed to get Mai in the kitchen at all) and trying to keep Sakunami from getting squashed in the rush.</p>
<p>(“Coach Nekomata intimidates you? Really?”</p>
<p>“<em>Dedushka</em>.”</p>
<p>“Well when you put it like that, yeah. he does kinda remind me of him…. Actually, I understand exactly what you mean.”)</p>
<p>They managed to find a spot wedged between their first years and some of Datekou’s second and third years, Takanobu sandwiched between Kenji on his right and Ennoshita on his left. Kenji always sat on his side with more limited hearing when it came to group gatherings, just in case Takanobu missed anything.</p>
<p>“Ah, Aone, good to see you!” Ennoshita said, that pleased little smile Takanobu is so used to seeing on his face. Moniwa had a similar countenance about him when he was playing nice as captain, and Ennoshita is fit to become captain as soon as their third years graduate. Like keeping a business card tucked in a back pocket, or the way a waiter stops by to check and ask how you’re doing periodically throughout the meal. Ennoshita is an awfully accommodating person, in Takanobu’s opinion.</p>
<p>Takanobu grunted, nodding his own greeting. They fell into a companionable silence, content to watch the chaos around them without partaking in it, though Ennoshita occasionally chimed in to wrangle his team back before rhys could do something overzealous before training camp had even officially started or make a quip at Futakuchi’s expense.</p>
<p>Takanobu felt Tanaka’s eyes on him through the whole meal, even between his snatches of distracted conversation with his teammates. Takanobu lifted a pale brow. Tanaka shook his head like he was trying to clear a thought from it and went back to his dinner.</p>
<p>“What’s up with him?” Kenji asked, accenting his words with sign. Takanobu shrugged.</p>
<p>They eventually tucked into bed, and as he drifted off Takanobu couldn’t help but feel like he was forgetting something important.</p>
<p>It didn’t dawn on him until the following afternoon, after formal practices had finished and they were set off to free practice for the rest of the day. Takanobu wiped at his face with a spare towel, wondering if he could manage to track down Nekoma’s captain and implore him for some one-on-one blocking practice. Kenji was nowhere to be found, though he couldn’t have been far.</p>
<p>Probably off antagonizing the other captains again, or goading some of the power spikers from Fukurodani to test his blocks against. Or both. Fukurodani’s captain seemed awfully easy to provoke.</p>
<p>It was as Tanaka shuffled up with an awfully shifty looking expression on his face, furtively glancing from side to side, that Takanobu felt a sense of unease begin to bloom in his stomach. Tanaka was such a brusque, brutally honest person, any time he looked like he was up to something couldn’t have been good.</p>
<p>“Hey, Aone, just the guy I wanted to see! Listen, Coach asked me to get something out of the supply closet but it’s way too high up for me to reach and, uh, I can’t find a step ladder anywhere. Could you go get it down for me? Pretty please?” Spilled out of Tanaka’s mouth in a rush of words, complete with batting his eyelashes at Takanobu like he was the female protagonist in a shoujo manga. Takanobu grunted.</p>
<p>“Tsukishima?”</p>
<p>“He’s, uh, in the middle of personal practice.”</p>
<p>Tsukishima was most definitely not in the middle of personal practice. Takanobu had last seen him ambling towards the showers with Yamaguchi in tow not but a few minutes ago. “C’mon man, please?”</p>
<p>Takanobu shrugged. Whatever it was that Tanaka was up to, it couldn’t have been nearly as bad as the prank wars that went down at Datekou’s annual yearly training camp. He would never forget Sasaya’s Grandpa-fication from his first year attending it.</p>
<p>(Kamasaki still called him Jiji, sometimes.)</p>
<p>It was as the supply closet door shut behind him with an ominous click and Takanobu found himself face-to-forehead with Ennoshita that he remembered what he had been forgetting.</p>
<p>“Um.” Ennoshita said. The supply closet was very small. There was barely a hairsbreadth between the two of them. Takanobu’s vision was functionally useless in the low light of the closet, but he knew it to be Ennoshita from the distinct sigh he’d uttered as the door closed on them both. “Tanaka sure is up to something, huh?”</p>
<p>Takanobu grunted his assent.</p>
<p>The pieces started to fall more fully into place as, over the course of the week, Takanobu found himself pushed into more and more uncomfortable one-on-one situations with Ennoshita, who at least seemed somewhat bemused about the whole thing.</p>
<p>Brown hair and eyes, he remembered, when Ennoshita was sent to retrieve the bathroom caddy Tanaka had so conviently forgotten in the showers as Takanobu was exiting his own.</p>
<p>Dependable, but not recognized for it, when Tanaka managed to duck out of dish duty and take Kenji with him (somehow), leaving just Takanobu and Ennoshita washing dishes at the same sink.</p>
<p>A great fit for captain, when the door to the Karasuno room mysteriously locked as Ennoshita was attempting to head to bed, who was left to wander the halls in search of someone familiar right around the time Takanobu finished calling his mother for the night just outside the Datekou room across the hall.</p>
<p>“Alright, I’ll bite.” Ennoshita said, hands on hips and a stern set to his mouth. “What the hell is Tanaka up to?”</p>
<p>“He thinks I have a crush on you.” Takanobu said. Best to just get it out with.</p>
<p>Ennoshita blanched. Then, he began to laugh. Takanobu waited for him to finish.</p>
<p>It was a pretty funny situation, after all.</p>
<p>“Sorry, sorry, no insult to you, but, is he blind? He knows you’ve got something for Futakuchi and not me, right?”</p>
<p>Takanobu went pink from hairline to collar. “You’re similar.”</p>
<p>Ennoshita squinted. “Did he think the two of you had a crush on the same person, and defaulted to it being me?”</p>
<p>Takanobu nodded. Ennoshita laughed again, bending at the waist and wiping tears from his eyes. Takanobu chuckled. He had to, otherwise the ridiculous nature of the situation would’ve driven him insane.</p>
<p>“Why didn’t you say anything earlier, is my only question.”</p>
<p>Takanobu hummed. “Wanted to see what he’d do.”</p>
<p>Ennoshita grinned. Not his polite, customer service, business card smile, but something well and truly connivingly evil. Takanobu shivered. He had never been more glad to not be Tanaka at that very moment.</p>
<p>The week passed in a blur and Takanobu had been forced into no less than five more somewhat awkward situations with Ennoshita by the time it came to leave. Tanaka, somehow, managed to completely miss the point the entire time. Kenji had been all too happy to devise a plan with Takanobu and Ennoshita, and Takanobu felt his heart swell for some ungodly reason.</p>
<p>“Tanaka.” Takanobu said, waving the other second year over right before Datekou was due to board their bus. Tanaka startled, either at being addressed so directly or the fact that Takanobu had spoken aloud, or perhaps both. He was trailed by Ennoshita, and Takanobu could’ve sworn there was at least one other Karasuno second year with their phone out to record.</p>
<p>Takanobu locked eyes with Tanaka.</p>
<p>Tanaka gulped.</p>
<p>Takanobu grabbed Kenji’s hand in as obvious of a manner as he could manage, draggin the other boy towards him and dropping the sweetest, softest peck he could manage on his lips.</p>
<p>Tanaka gaped.</p>
<p>Ennoshita cackled.</p>
<p>Kenji pretended to swoon, and Takanobu’s face was surely red, his heart doing flips.</p>
<p>“You’re kind of stupid.”</p>
<p>Tanaka gaped some more. His mouth opened and closed like a fish, eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.</p>
<p>Takanobu bowed, and boarded the bus hand in hand with Kenji.</p>
<p>“I— you— he-!” Tanaka stammered, making frenetic pointing motions at the bus. Ennoshita smacked him over the back of the head.</p>
<p>“It’s mutual, you know.” he called over his shoulder as he walked away in the direction of Karasuno’s bus. Tanaka shrieked.</p>
<p>(“Y’know, I knew it. I was just waiting for you to make the first move. Didn’t wanna embarrass you or anything, Takano.”</p>
<p>“Hmm.”)</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i hope you enjoyed, and that this was at least vaguely coherent! i’m really rushing in under the wire to finish it on time haha.  as always, comments, concrit, and questions are appreciated in the comments below! </p>
<p>also if you’re wondering if it is, aone+lev cousins is absolutely a reference to <a href="%E2%80%9C">they make ‘em bigger in russia</a> it absolutely is. i’ll die with this headcanon</p></blockquote></div></div>
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